Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a multilayer ceramic capacitor and a method of manufacturing the same, and more particularly, to a high-capacity multilayer ceramic capacitor having excellent reliability and a method of manufacturing the same.
Description of the Related Art
Generally, electronic components using a ceramic material such as a capacitor, an inductor, a piezoelectric element, a varistor, a thermistor, or the like, include a ceramic body made of a ceramic material, inner electrodes formed within the ceramic body, and outer electrodes mounted on surfaces of the ceramic body so as to be connected to the inner electrodes.
The multilayer ceramic capacitor, among ceramic electronic components, is configured to include a plurality of stacked dielectric layers, inner electrodes disposed to be opposed to each other, having each dielectric layer therebetween, and outer electrodes electrically connected to the inner electrodes.
The multilayer ceramic capacitor has been widely used as a component of a mobile communication apparatus such as a computer, a PDA, a mobile phone, or the like, due to advantages such as miniaturization, high capacity, ease of mounting, and the like.
Recently, as electronic products have become miniaturized and multi-functional, chip parts have also tended to be miniaturized and multi-functional. As a result, there is a need to miniaturize the multilayer ceramic capacitor while increasing the capacity thereof.
Generally, the multilayer ceramic capacitor may be manufactured as follows. First, an inner electrode is formed by manufacturing a ceramic green sheet and printing a conductive paste on the ceramic green sheet. A green ceramic laminate is manufactured by multilayering the ceramic green sheets, on which the inner electrodes are formed, from several layers to several hundred layers. Thereafter, the solid green ceramic laminate is manufactured by compressing the green ceramic laminate at high temperature and high pressure and the solid green ceramic laminate is subjected to a cutting process to manufacture green chips. Thereafter, the multilayer ceramic capacitor is completed by plasticizing and firing the green chip and then, forming the outer electrodes thereon.
Recently, as the multilayer ceramic capacitor has been miniaturized and the capacity thereof increased, the ceramic laminate has also been thinned and multilayered. As the ceramic green sheet is thinned and multilayered, a difference in thickness between a ceramic green sheet layer on which the inner electrodes are formed and another ceramic green sheet layer on which the inner electrodes are not formed occurs, and a difference in density therebetween occurs after compressing the ceramic green sheet layers.
Internal structure defects such as cracks, pores and the like may occur in the ceramic body due to differences in thickness and density.